


Birds and Bats

by AlmondRose



Category: Batman (Comics), Batwoman (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Gen, Identity Porn, M/M, Tags to be added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-09-30 02:24:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10151261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: Barbara Gordon is Robin, Dick Grayson is Batboy, Renee Montoya is the commissioner of the GCPD, and of course, Bruce Wayne is Batman and Kate Kane is Batwoman, but really, what else is new?





	1. Chapter 1

Bruce is alone in the church pew, clutching his knees and staring at the kneeler. The church is cold and he thinks Alfred is out at the graves, paying respects or something. It doesn’t matter. 

 

His whole inside is empty and he wonders if he’ll ever feel anything ever again. Probably not. 

 

He hears footsteps and he thinks it’s Alfred; it’s probably better if they just go home now. He turns his head and it’s not Alfred. 

 

Kate fiddles with her dress and looks uncomfortable; Bruce stares at her. She huffs out a sigh and sits next to him. 

 

“Shouldn’t you be with Beth?” Bruce says dully. 

 

“Probably,” Kate says. She pauses before she says, “Or maybe Beth should be with  _ you.  _ Are you okay?”

 

Bruce turns to raise an eyebrow at her. She laughs, a breathy not-really sound. 

 

“Sorry, dumb question.” Her hand rests on his shoulder awkwardly. Bruce feels like it’s the first time he’s been touched since…. _ before.  _ “ _ Will  _ you be okay?” 

 

Bruce shrugs. He doesn’t really even feel  _ not  _ okay, just mainly empty. 

 

More footsteps. 

 

“Master Bruce?” Alfred asks, gently. “It’s time to go.” Bruce nods, stands up. He moves around Kate and goes to Alfred, who takes his hand. It’s comforting. 

 

“See you around, Katie,” Bruce mumbles. 

 

“Bye,” Kate says. “I hope you feel better.” Bruce nods, and Alfred leads him away. 

 

\-----

 

Kate’s hiding by a wall, smothering a panic attack and trying not to think about anything. 

 

She’s okay, she’s okay, she’s okay. Her dad is right in her line of sight, and he’s alive, and well, and--and her mom and sister aren’t. They---they’re not coming back. 

 

Kate sinks down to the ground, not caring about getting dirt on her fancy funeral dress. She breathes into her hands, trying to calm down. 

 

“Close your eyes,” a voice instructs, and Kate looks up. Bruce is standing over her, his hands in his pockets and expression unreadable. She closes her eyes. “Breathe in through your nose.” She does. “Exhale from your mouth. Concentrate on my words. In through your nose. Out through your mouth.”

 

When she’s calmer, he sits next to her, even though his suit is probably a bajillion more dollars then her dress. 

 

“There’s books about panic attacks,” Bruce says. “About how to stop them and stuff.”

 

“I guess,” Kate says, picking at the grass next to her. Bruce turns to look at her. 

 

“Are you okay?” 

 

“You’re an idiot,” Kate says, and she shoves his shoulder. 

 

“Sorry,” he says. “ _ Will  _ you be okay?” She turns to look at him. 

 

“You seem to be alright,” she notes. “It’s been four years.”

 

“It has,” Bruce says, and his face draws shut, a little. Kate hurries to finish before he shuts down. 

 

“Ask me again in four years, then,” she says. His face relaxes and he smiles, a little. 

 

“Sure,” he says. 

 

“Kate,” her father’s voice says. “Time to go.” Kate scrambles to her feet, and offers Bruce her hand. He takes it, and she pulls him up. 

 

“See you this summer?” she asks, because they really don’t see each other that much. 

 

“Sure thing, Katie,” he says. She rolls her eyes. 

 

“Bye,  _ Brucie,”  _ she says, and he scowls and she almost laughs. 

 

\-----

 

Kate gets kicked out of the army, and she’s in an apartment in Gotham, and some girl who’s name she doesn’t quite remember is in her bed, and she can’t sleep. She gets up, careful not to disturb the other girl, and pulls on a sweatshirt. She opens up the balcony and stands outside, staring out at the roofs. 

 

Her eyes search until she finds the symbol in the sky, the symbol to call Batman. She wonders if Batman is really real, if Commissioner Gordon’s new hope for the city is actually founded. Then she pushes the thought down, because she just lives here. She was never obsessed with saving the city like Bruce was. 

 

Whatever. 

 

She starts to turn to go back inside, but there’s a flash in the corner of her eye and she turns. A dark shape, barely visible, races across a roof across from her apartment. 

 

_ It could be a thief,  _ her mind whispers. But she doesn’t think so. Eyes wide, she turns to go back inside and lay down next to whatshername. 

 

\-----

 

Barbara Gordon doesn’t really get to see her parents at the same time all that much. She sees her dad in the mornings, and her mom at nights, and never the two of them together, but her father has off tonight, and he decided to take Barbara and her mom to the movies. 

 

It’s something dumb, some kids movie Babs won’t remember in a week, but she has fun. They leave the theater, and she knows her parents are holding hands behind her, but she doesn’t mind. 

 

They turn a corner, and they’re not in any alley, they actually just turned  _ out  _ of the alley, but a man in a mask jumps in front of them anyway. 

 

Babs is paralyzed by fear, barely hears what the mugger says--although she can hear her father’s whisper, clear as day-- “I’m not armed.” Her mother says, “Sweetie, stand behind me--” and Babs moves, her legs stiff and unyielding, and there’s the loudest noise Babs has ever heard, twice in quick succession--then the gun is pointed at her, and as if in slow motion, the man’s finger pulls the trigger, the bullet sails out, and someone crashes into Babs. 

 

She stares up at the face shielding her, a  man with a mask and pointy ears and-- _ oh my god,  _ it’s Batman. 

 

She hears the bullet hit something, a wall maybe, and everything blurs back to normal speed as Batman knocks out the man, then ties him to a wall, and Babs crawls to the blood pooling on the ground, and her parents’ empty eyes. 

 

“Batman,” she says, and her voice sounds tiny. “Batman, my parents are--they’re---they’re…” She can’t finish, and she breaks off to cry. 

 

Batman is surprisingly gentle as he wraps his arms around her. She leans into him. A siren wails. 

 

“I called the police,” Batman says quietly. 

 

“My dad was police,” Babs says faintly. 

 

“I know,” Batman says. “I know. Listen to me.” She turns to look at him. “I know  _ exactly  _ what you’re feeling right now, but I have to leave, okay?”

 

“What?” Babs says. “But--”

 

“I know,” he says. “I know. Tell the police to call Bruce Wayne, okay?”

 

“B-bruce Wayne?” Babs has met him before, at a party. He seemed--not like someone you’d call in this scenario. 

 

“Yes,” Batman says. “Can you remember that?”

 

“I have a photographic memory,” Babs whispers. Batman smiles. 

 

“That’s good. Tell them to call Bruce Wayne.”

 

“I-I will,” Babs says, and Batman stands up. 

 

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he vanishes into the night. 

 

\----

 

“Call Bruce Wayne,” Babs says again. “Batman said to call him.”

 

“I know, sweetie, but you have to be patient, okay? It’s late, and--”

 

“Please,” Babs says, tugging on Renee Montoya's shirt. “Please.” Renee sighs. She pulls out her phone. 

 

“I don’t even know why his number is on my phone,” she mumbles. She takes Babs’s hand and walks her farther down the alley to get some privacy. Babs watches her dial the phone and put it on speaker. It rings. 

 

“Renee, darling, I never thought  _ you’d _ use my number!” Bruce Wayne’s voice floats out happily. “Do you have me confused with my cousin?”

 

“Shut your mouth, Wayne, I’m on duty,” Renee snaps. 

 

“Then why the call?”

 

“There’s a tragedy,” Renee says, looking at Babs awkwardly. “James Gordon. Barbara Gordon. Dead. Shot. Their daughter--”

 

“ _ No _ ,” Bruce hisses, and Babs blinks at the sudden change of tone. “Montoya don’t tell me she--’

 

“She was there,” Renee confirms. “She’s right here.”

 

“Alive?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wait, why--” Babs starts, almost afraid to hear the answer. 

 

“Barbara, sweetie,” Renee starts. “Bruce….”

 

“I saw the same thing you did,” Bruce interrupts. “My parents. Shot. In front of me.” Babs’s mouth falls open and she’s not sure what to say, except-- “So  _ that’s  _ why Batman said to call you!”

 

“Batman?” Bruce repeats. “The urban legend?”

 

“He’s real,” Babs insists. “He saved me.”

 

“Hmm. Well, Batman or not, I want Barbara to come with me,” Bruce says. 

 

“What?” Renee says. “No, that’s not how it--”

 

“I’ll be at the police station in an hour,” Bruce says. “Toodles!” The line goes dead. Renee looks at Barbara, her eyes wide. 

 

\-----

 

“I had Alfred set up a room and I’m paying for the funeral, of course,” Bruce says, breezing into the room. Renee and Babs are the only people in the lobby of the station. Babs has blood on her hands and her shirt. Bruce doesn’t look at it too hard. She looks about the same way she’d looked a few hours ago, right when it happened. Bruce’s impressed with her. When it happened to him, he couldn’t stop crying and had immediately gone into shock. He suspects she will once she gets to the Manor and the reality of the situation sets in. 

 

“Wayne, I don’t know what you’re trying, but it’s not going to work,” Renee says tiredly. “ _ I’ll  _ take her home, and you can...still pay for the funeral, I dunno.”

 

“Renee, I know for a fact your apartment doesn’t have room for an additional person,” Bruce says. “Excepting my cousin, perhaps.” Renee’s ears go red and she glares at Bruce. He ignores her. “I, obviously, have much better accommodations, at least for now.”

 

Renee keeps glaring at him and Bruce isn’t even sure why he wants to take Barbara in so badly. He’s not sure if he wants this full time or just for now, but he saw  _ himself  _ in her, right before he saved her. He saw her clench her fists and brace herself for death. 

 

He remembers himself, years and years ago. 

 

He remembers Kate, years and years ago. 

 

And now Barbara Gordon, older even than Kate was, but still--still too young. 

 

He doesn’t know how to explain the knot of emotions, tangled in his chest, but. But. He needs Barbara to come back with him. 

 

“Fine,” Renee says. “Just for now.”

 

“Sure thing,” Bruce says, and he flashes her a terribly corny grin, and Barbara gets up and shuffles towards him, and he leads her to the car. 

 

“T-thank you,” Babs says as Bruce opens the car door for her.

 

“It’s really, really, no problem,” Bruce says, and Barbara blinks, manages a smile. Bruce gets in the car and heads towards Wayne Manor, and he hopes he’ll be able to--to do right by her.

 

\----

 

Renee paces anxiously. She’s been commissioner for about two weeks, now, and Jim’s funeral is fresh in her mind, the sight of Bruce and Barbara something almost endearing, when she’d hugged him and he’d awkwardly patted her back and it had been really adorable, really, and that had been the last bit of free time Renee’d had since they named her commissioner. 

 

And now….now is the first time she’s turned on the Batsignal. She doesn’t--doesn’t want to have to rely on Batman, she thinks the police can handle themselves--but. But she should meet this guy, make him understand that  _ she’s  _ in charge here, not him. If he’s even real, that is. 

 

It wouldn’t surprise her if Barbara was in shock and had a hallucination of Batman, something she made up to help her cope. But then, of course, how would the man have been tied up? 

 

Renee just isn’t sure, so she continues to pace. 

 

She hears a noise and looks up. Right next to the signal, there’s a person. A silhouette, of someone in a dark cloak with pointy ears sticking up over her head. White eyes shine, and despite herself Renee takes a step backwards. 

 

“B-Batman?” she asks, remembering what Gordon used to say about Batman being forgetful about social niceties such as saying “hello” or “goodbye”. 

 

There’s a gleam in the darkness, and Renee thinks that the person grinned in the shadows. 

 

“Not quite,” a woman’s voice says, and she steps out of the darkness, and into the light. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly don't expect the other updates to be this quick but who knows :O

 

“Renee,” Kate mutters, rolling over and tugging at the sheets. 

 

“What,” Renee says, batting at Kate’s hands and frowning sleepily. Kate smiles in spite of herself. 

 

“I’m proud of you,” she says, and she thinks about how she’d gotten to see Renee in action, as commissioner. It was really hot. 

 

“Mmm,” Renee says. “Come here.” She blindly gropes for the front of Kate’s nightshirt and pulls her down, into a kiss. Kate smiles, and really, she doesn’t think that it gets any better than this. 

 

\----

“Bruce?” a voice asks and hands shake his side. Bruce opens his eyes and rolled over to see big green eyes staring at him. Barbara looks so tiny in oversized pajamas and her red hair tumbling over her shoulders.

“W-what is it?” Bruce asks. He can’t remember a time he had woken up Alfred in the middle of the night, but maybe his parents, although Babs is much older than he had been when his parents died.

“I had a nightmare,” Barbara admits. “And I can’t sleep.” Bruce thinks back to what that meant. She looks nervous.

“There’s no shame to nightmares,” he says finally.

“I know,” she says. Babs looks like she wants to say something else but Bruce isn’t sure what she wants. Why would she–oh. Bruce coughs.

“Um, you can, um.” He rolls to the other side of the bed and lifts the blanket up. She looks visibly relieved and crawls under.

“Thanks, Bruce,” she says.

“No problem,” Bruce says, and he rolls over to face away from her, and he wonders if this was a normal dad thing to do, then pushes the thought away, because he’s  _ not  _ trying to be her dad. 

\------

“Who are you?” The rough growl surprises Batwoman. She whirls around, feeling her cape and hair spin behind her. She turns to see a shape in the shadows, a hulking stretch of a man. This is almost certainly the elusive Batman. She resists the urge to tell her real name and crosses her arms. 

“Batwoman,” she says, tossing her hair and smirking. 

“You don’t have jurisdiction here,” Batman growls. 

“Neither do you,” Batwoman points out. “Vigilante-ing is, in all forms of the word, illegal.”

“Then why do you take my name? Why do you fight?”

“Why do  _ you _ ?” Batwoman asks. “Besides, Batman, times are changing. They say those guys in Metropolis, in Star City, in Central--they say they’re teaming up. This crime-fighting thing--it’s changing for the better.”

“I don’t endorse metas,” Batman says. 

“I don’t  _ care,”  _ Batwoman says. “Listen. My civilian ID was recently in a spot of trouble, and I never want to feel helpless again. I don’t want to be saved. So here I am, Batman, and I’m here to stay.” There’s a long, long silence before Batman speaks again. 

“Fine,” he says. “You’ve already talked to Montoya-- _ you  _ can deal with the PR.”

“Fine,” Batwoman says. She doesn’t want to do what Batman does, the thing with the fear. She’d rather...be a public figure. Maybe  _ she  _ can join Superman and Flash and Green whatever. “You do your shadows thing, and I’ll be public.” She holds out her hand to shake. 

Batman’s hand emerges from the shadows-- _ damn, spikes on the gloves were a good idea-- _ and shakes hers. It’s brief, and he retracts his hand almost too quickly. 

“See you around, I guess?” Batwoman says, but Batman is gone. 

 

\-----

Babs wakes up with a sudden need to validate that everyone is alive. She rolls out of bed and creeps into the hall, wondering if she knows where Alfred’s rooms are. 

 

Bruce’s is right at the end of the hall, so she goes there first. She knocks, and there’s no response, and she pushes the doors open, and--

 

The bed is empty. 

 

Not even disturbed, still made, empty. Fear rises in Babs’s throat and she stumbles backwards, trying to convince herself that she’s forgotten an event he had to go to tonight. 

 

She knows she hasn’t. 

 

“B-bruce,” she gasps, her socks slipping on the wood floor. She falls on her butt, her back landing against something that wasn’t there before, and she looks up. 

 

Alfred smiles down at her. 

 

“What’s the matter?” he asks, bending down and grabbing Babs’s arms to haul her up. “Is everything alright, Miss Barbara?”

 

“Um,” Babs says. “W-where’s Bruce?”

 

“He had to go out unexpectedly, I’m afraid,” Alfred says. “May I ask why?”

 

“I was just--I needed to make sure. That he’s--not...dead.” Alfred’s face softens.

 

“He’s fine,” he promises. “He’s fine.”

 

\----

 

Kate goes with Renee to a big gala Bruce is throwing--one in honor of Barbara Gordon, one in honor of Renee’s promotion. She wears a dress and looks in the mirror and thinks about cutting her hair. She doesn’t like it and she thinks if she chopped all her hair off it’d be better, but what about Batwoman, but then again she could...attach a wig to her mask?

 

Wait, that’s not a bad idea. 

 

Whatever, she wears a dress and so does Renee and they walk in together, arm in arm, and she hears gasps and homophobes being homophobic, but she  _ really  _ doesn’t care. 

 

They’re in some ballroom at city hall, and Bruce is technically hosting, and he comes in on time for once, and he leaves Babs with Alfred and heads to a group of females in backless dresses to feel them up or whatever, which--honesty  _ same,  _ but also Bruce needs to chill, like a  _ lot.  _

 

Kate isn’t really sure what happened to him, because he was  _ never  _ like this as a kid, just mostly angsty, and now he’s become some sort of flirt and playboy, and Kate really doesn’t like it. She’s not sure why it gets on her nerves so much--maybe because it’s so out of character for him?

 

“Everything okay?” Renee asks, putting her hand on Kate’s arm. She turns to face her. 

 

“Yeah, sorry, I just--” she sighs and rubs her face. “I’m not sure what happened to him.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Bruce used to be...a lot different.”

 

“People change, Kate,” Renee says, taking Kate’s hand and guiding her towards the dance floor. “And sometimes they change into idiots.”

 

“But he’s  _ not!”  _ Kate protests, letting Renee guide her into a dance. “He’s actually really smart, and he was like….the  _ polar opposite  _ of that--” she waves her hand in Bruce’s direction-- “just a few years ago!” 

 

“Maybe he’s...covering up the trauma by being stupid and having fun?” Renee suggests. “He’s a billionaire, Kate, don’t look too far into it.” Kate sighs and pushes the thought out of her mind. But--she doesn’t quite believe that’s it. 

 

\----

 

“Excuse me, Mr Wayne--” Clark tries and fails miserably to get his attention. The problem is, he thinks, that he’s not a gorgeous model in an inappropriately tight dress. Or perhaps Lois would be able to gain his attention, seeing as she has that….presence about her. 

 

Clark smiles ruefully and he knows that he very, very easily  _ could  _ gain the attention of Bruce, or any other person in this room, really. He imagines Superman bursting from the crowd of reporters, holding a notebook to Bruce Wayne and asking if he could  _ please  _ tell him what it’s like to have a child around the house?

 

He chuckles and turns away. Maybe later Bruce will be more open to attention-grabbing. For now, though...he surveys his options. He could ask the redhead woman he overheard what she was talking about, but that might be creepy, or he could ask literally anyone else literally anything else. 

 

He turns to Vicki Vale, to ask her if she knows when the opportune time to talk to Bruce is, but something catches his attention in the corner of his eye. Barbara is alone, in a corner, her arms crossed and staring at everyone with an almost analytical gaze, and Clark isn’t sure what she’s doing. 

 

He goes to her. 

 

“Hello,” he says. 

 

“You’re a reporter,” she says. 

 

“I know,” he responds. “Can I ask you some questions?”

 

“What paper are you from?” she asks and he falters. Why...would that matter to her? “Bruce says there are some papers I shouldn’t give interviews to.” Clark’s surprised, he didn’t think Bruce had that much...insight. 

 

“The  _ Daily Planet,”  _ he says and she blinks. 

 

“He said that one was okay.”

 

“That’s good,” Clark says. “Is there anything you don’t want me to ask about?”

 

“Oh,” she says. “Um. My parents?”

 

“Of course,” Clark says. “So how do you feel, living with a billionaire?”

 

“Confused,” she says. “I’m still not sure why he let me live with him.”

 

Clark laughs. 

 

“How has Bruce himself been?”

 

“Alright,” Barbara says. “Pretty nice.”

 

“Is he like--that?” Clark asks, waving a hand at the drunken shenanigans Bruce is doing now. She peers around him. 

 

“Not really,” she says. “But I’d met him at a party before he let me live with him, and so I knew he was like that at parties.”

 

“Interesting,” Clark says, and he turns to look at Bruce again, who’s flirting with a different reporter--a male one, to be exact, and  _ honestly  _ Clark can’t handle this, this very attractive man flirting with another man, and Clark thinks about how he’s very bi, and also how he has no chance with Bruce Wayne, and also how significant others aren’t allowed because of Superman, and he sighs in disappointment and turns back to Barbara. 

 

\----

 

Babs isn’t stupid. 

 

Alfred took her and Bruce home then Bruce said he needed to sleep off his alcohol, but Babs didn’t smell a whiff of the stuff she’d been smelling all evening, and she sneaks into his room and he isn’t there, the bed not even disturbed, like usual, and she turns around and combs the whole manor, even Alfred’s rooms, and there isn’t anything there, nobody in the whole manor, including Alfred, and she stands on the kitchen counter and crosses her arms and she  _ knows  _ Alfred wouldn’t leave her alone, but she’s also a cop’s daughter, and she hasn’t seen any signs of struggles, and so they left, but all the cars are still in the garage, Babs counted all twelve of them, and she’s thinking of where they could be. 

 

The gardens, maybe?

 

But when she peeks outside, all the lights are off and it’s  _ really  _ dark, and Babs can smell a mystery, and she  _ really  _ can’t wait to solve it. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW WTF I AM ON A ROLL
> 
> (anyway hope you enjoy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

Bruce has tickets to the circus. 

 

He doesn’t want to go to the circus. 

 

“Go to the circus,” Alfred encourages. “Take Miss Barbara.”

 

“Maybe,” Bruce says, shoving the tickets in his desk drawer. “I’ll think about it.”

 

He  _ really _ doesn’t want to go to the circus. 

 

\-----

 

Babs pretends to be asleep. 

 

She hears someone open her bedroom door, hears Bruce whisper, “Goodnight,” and he closes the door and leaves. 

 

Babs throws off the blankets and rolls out of bed. She’s dressed in all black, and she puts on a black winter hat of Bruce’s that she found, and she tucks all her hair up in it. 

 

She hears Bruce go down the stairs, and she creeps out of her room, sliding on her socks, and crawls through the shadows. 

 

She’s small enough to slide down the banister, very close to silently, and she peers around the edge of the staircase to see Bruce disappear into his study. 

 

Babs darts into the shadows and presses close to the wall, edging closer to the door. It’s open a crack, and she pushes it open a little more, hardly daring to breathe. 

 

There’s nobody in the room. 

 

Babs pushes the door open better, and there’s nobody there. It’s empty. There’s no other exits. 

 

Babs’s first conclusion is that there’s a secret passageway,  but then Alfred walks by the open study door and she dives behind a chair. Alfred closes the door as he passes and she takes off the hat, leaving it behind Bruce’s chair. 

 

She creeps back upstairs and makes a new plan. 

 

\-----

 

Clark is minding his own business, reading and editing an article, when he hears a call.

 

“Superman,” the voice (female) says. “Can you come talk to me?”

 

Which is an unusual request, to say the least, so obviously Clark’s intrigued. 

 

“It’s not urgent,” she adds, and Clark’s already dressed and flying out the window. He follows the woman’s heartbeat to Gotham, and she’s standing on a roof, her arms crossed. Superman lands next to her. She’s dressed in red and black, in a bat-like suit, and Clark’s first thought is that Batman must be a girl, but then she holds out her red-gloved hand to shake. 

 

“Batwoman,” she introduces. “I wasn’t sure if that would actually work.”

 

“It did, Batwoman, and I’m Superman.”

 

“I know,” she says. “I wanted to reach out to...let you know I’m here, I guess? So that way if you people decide to make a group of heroes or whatever, you can let me know?”

 

“Of course,” Superman assures her. It seems as though the myths of Batman are false, and Batwoman is Gotham’s vigilante. Or maybe the myths were just myths, and Batwoman was inspired by them to create her persona. Superman is just immensely relieved that she seems to be friendly. 

 

“Just say my name if you ever need me,” Superman says. “I’ll hear.”

 

“Alright,” she says. “Maybe we can make something to develop if you ever need  _ me.”  _ Superman nods, thinking that he’ll have to figure out what she can do before he actually calls her for any reason. He bids her farewell and flies away, heading towards Metropolis. 

 

He’s almost out of the city when a green fog falls around him, and nausea wells up in his stomach, and Superman feels sick-- _ where did a Gothamite get Kryptonite?  _

 

He falls from the sky, and right when he’s about to hit the ground--how invulnerable is he around Kryptonite, again?--someone swings into him, grabbing him and pulling him up onto a roof, depositing him roughly on the ground. 

 

“What are you doing in my city?” a rough voice growls, something--a boot?--jutting into his side painfully. 

 

“I--” Superman gasps. 

 

“ _ No metas allowed,”  _ the man (?) in the shadows says, his voice monstrous. 

 

“Batwoman--” Superman manages to wheeze out. 

 

“Batwoman’s not in charge here,  _ I _ am,” the man says. “Now get out, and stay out.”

 

“Where…..did you--Kryptonite?” Superman asks horsely as the man’s boot lifts off his side. 

 

“None of your buisness, Superman,” the man says. “Or should I say  _ Kal-el?”  _ Superman gathers himself to his feet, glaring. He can’t exactly  _ fly  _ since he can still feel the effects of the Kryptonite, and this damn city has no sun at all. 

 

“Now leave my city and don’t come back,” the man says, and Superman sees the glint of his teeth when he speaks, the whites of his eyes. 

 

“Who are you to tell me what to do?” Superman challenges, crossing his arms. In a rush, the man takes two steps towards Superman, and leans right into his face, and growls out, “I’m  _ Batman,”  _ then he swirls his cape and he’s gone. 

 

Superman is sure the man can teleport, and he stretches his slowly-returning hearing out and around the city. 

 

He hears a mugging, and he fliess as quickly as he can over so he can’t be seen, and he arrives just in time, looking down at Batman descending from the shadows, flighting with a sort of grace Superman’s never seen in his life. The fight is over quickly, and Batman is gone again ( _ teleporter)  _ and Superman slowly flies out of Gotham, puzzled beyond belief, and more than a little intrigued. 

 

\----

 

“I don’t appreciate this attitude,” Batwoman yells after him. “If we are going to co-exist in this city, we need to  _ trust  _ each other!”

 

“Then consult me before you invite metas into my city!” Batman growls from the next roof over. Batwoman flips over to him. 

 

“ _ Our  _ city,” she corrects. 

 

“Listen to me, ‘Batwoman’,” Batman says, rounding on her. “I could find out your secret identity in a mere second if I wished, but I haven’t yet, because I’ve been tirelessly  _ protecting my city.  _ Don’t tell me what’s mine and yours.” Batwoman crosses her arms, infuriated. 

 

“Fine,” she says. “I’m calling your bluff. Who am I, then?” He freezes, and she thinks she’s finally got one on him. 

 

It takes another second for her to stop gloating. Why isn’t he moving? Is he thinking? What is he--

 

“Kate Kane,” Batman says finally, then he vanishes into the night, leaving Kate behind, stunned.

 

\----

 

_ Mission: find out what Bruce’s hiding. _

 

_ Plan B: wait for Bruce in the study.  _

 

_ Step one (exposition):  _

 

“Goodnight, Bruce,” Babs says finally, getting up from the couch. 

 

“Goodnight,” Bruce says. Babs goes upstairs and pulls off her clothes, tossing them into a hamper. 

 

_ Step two (preparation): _

 

Babs goes to the back of her closet and finds her black jeans and sweater, puts them on. She pulls on her black socks and finds the black winter hat from under her bed, freshly retrieved from the study. She tucks all her hair up and inspects herself in the mirror. Perfect. 

 

_ Step three (disguise):  _

 

She goes back to her bed and pulls back the covers, grabbing some of her pillows and laying them in a line. She hops to the guest room next door and grabs a few more pillows, making sure the bed still looks nice.

 

Babs lines up all the pillows and pulls the blankets over them, grabbing a red-orange blanket and putting it at the top. She turns out the lights and inspects her work. It looks like someone with red hair is sleeping there. Nice. 

 

_ Step four (stake-out): _

 

She leaves the door open a little ajar and runs down the hall, slides down the banister, and crawls across the room to Bruce’s study. She seats herself behind his chair and waits. 

 

_ Step five (infiltration): _

 

She hears Bruce’s footsteps and the door open. She peeks around the chair and watches him adjust the clock’s hands, and then the clock opens and he vanishes into the wall behind it, closing the clock behind him. 

 

She crawls out from under the chair and goes to the clock. She’s glad for her photographic memory as she moves the hands--she hears footsteps and she dives back under the chair. Alfred comes in and opens the clock, closing it behind him. Babs crawls back out and presses her ear to the clock. She hears ticking and beyond that, footsteps. So that’s where the secret passage is!

 

She’s not sure how long she should wait, but then she hears  _ more  _ footsteps from behind the clock, and so she has to move again. She waits behind her new chair and hears the clock open and sees Alfred walk by and out the door. 

 

This time for sure, she thinks, and she runs to the clock and sets it for 10:47, and it opens and she grins, sliding inside. 

 

\-----

 

Batman comes back from a blissfully Superman-and-Batwoman-free patrol, and gets out of the batmobile, sighing heavily. 

 

He takes off the cowl and runs his hands through his hair, heading for the showers and stripping off his suit as he went. 

 

The shower is long and warm and leaves Bruce with plenty of time for introspection on Superman. He’d shoved all thoughts of Kate from his mind, and he’d rather think about Superman, anyway. 

 

He was...surprisingly impressed with the other man. Surprisingly. He’d been brave and calm, not panicking when encountered with the one substance that might kill him. Bruce would never kill him, of course, but Superman didn’t know that. 

 

Bruce didn’t like metas, but he suspects he might grow to like Superman if they had continuous interactions. 

 

(not that they would, of course.)

 

He leaves the shower and pulls on a pair of sweatpants, ready to head upstairs. The second he takes a step near the computer, however, the chair swings around and Barbara raises her eyebrows. 

 

“When were you going to tell me that you’re Batman?” she asks. 

 

\----

 

“Master Bruce, the circus is tomorrow,” Alfred says idly. Babs looks up from her pull-ups. 

 

“Circus?” she asks. 

 

“Yes, Haley’s Circus is in town. They’re said to have quite the acrobat act. I was hoping Master Bruce would take you to go see them.”

 

“I don’t want to see a circus,” Babs says. “I want to help Bruce.”

 

“I told you, you’re too young,” Bruce says from where he’s doing push-ups. 

 

“And yet you’re letting me train anyway.”

 

“It’s called a  _ workout.”  _ Alfred sighs. 

 

“So  _ are  _ you going to the circus or not?” 

 

“No,” Bruce and Barbara say in unison, and Alfred sighs again. He turns and goes upstairs. He pulls out his phone and dials a familiar number. 

 

“Alfred?” Kate’s voice fills the phone, surprised. “Is everything okay?”

 

“Yes, of course, Miss Kate,” Alfred says smoothly. He thinks for a moment of Batwoman and wonders if it’s a family trait, lunacy of running around in a cape to fight crime. “I was merely wondering if you wanted to go to the circus.”

 

“What?” 

 

“Master Bruce has acquired a pair of tickets to the circus that he doesn’t want to use. So I was wondering if you wanted to take your lovely girlfriend to a world-renowned circus tomorrow.”

 

“Oh. Um. Yeah?”

 

“Excellent,” Alfred says. “Do you want me to drop them off, or you to pick them up?”

 

“I’ll pick them up, thanks,” Kate says, and Alfred wonders when the last time she was at the manor was. “See you in a bit, I guess.”

 

“See you then, Miss Kate,” Alfred says, and he hangs up. 

 

\----

 

Kate stares up at the familiar manor, pushes down a wave of nostalgia, and goes to the door. She rings the bell once and Barbara Gordon answers. 

 

“‘Lo?” she asks, looking up at Kate. Kate can’t help but look her over. Honestly, Bruce adopting a little girl seems completely unfathomable, although the gala a few weeks ago had proven that Kate really didn’t know Bruce at all. 

 

“Hey, I’m here for the circus tickets?” she says, putting her hands in her pockets. 

 

“Sure,” Barbara says, vanishing inside for a minute and coming back with the tickets in hand. “You were at that gala.”

 

“I was.”

 

“With the new commissioner.”

 

“I was.”

 

“She came to dinner with us once, and she brought her girlfriend,” Barbara says. “Are you her new girlfriend?”

 

“I am.”

 

“Are you taking her to the circus?”

 

“I am,” Kate answers, feeling a little uncomfortable with the questions. 

 

“How do you know Bruce?”

 

“We’re cousins,” Kate says. 

 

“Oh,” Barbara says, then she hands her the tickets. “Have fun at the circus.”

 

“Thanks,” Kate says. “Have fun...with Bruce.” And Barbara  _ lights up  _ in a grin. 

 

“I totally will,” she says, and she goes into the manor, closing the door behind her. 

 

\------

 

It’s all in slow motion. 

 

Kate hears the ringmaster’s voice echoing in her ears--”Ladies and Gentlemen, the Flying Graysons!”

 

She sees the parents fly across the room, the kid flip and soar. 

 

She sees the joy on the boy’s face, the laughter on the mother’s. 

  
  
She sees the ropes snap, and hears the boy scream and the parents hit the ground and she stands up, unaware of her movement, and everything speeds to life once more as the boy flips down to his parents bodies, and Renee grabs her hand, pulling her along--”Come on, Kate, this is a police thing--” and Kate lets Renee pull her, and she thinks of Bruce, and his parents, and she thinks of Barbara Gordon, and she thinks of her mom and Beth, and when sirens wail and the police swarm and Renee pulls the boy--Richard, his name is Richard--gently off of his parents, Kate gathers him into her arms wordlessly, and lets him sob into her shirt. 


	4. Chapter 4

 

“I made a powerpoint,” Babs says. Bruce turns to look at her, an eyebrow quirked. 

 

“Whatever for?” he asks. 

 

“To convince you of the necessity for Robin,” Babs says, crossing her arms. His other eyebrow goes up. 

 

“Who the hell is Robin?”

 

“My code name, if you let me go out with you. Can you please just listen to my powerpoint?”

 

“Fine,” Bruce sighs. “But I’m not endorsing anything.” 

 

“Of course not,” Babs says. “Do you have a place to present?”

 

Bruce leads her to a meeting room-type place, and she uses the computer in the room to set up her powerpoint. 

 

She stands up next to the projector on the wall and picks up a pointer, just because it’s there. 

 

“Why Babs should be Robin and help Batman in the field,” she introduces. She goes to the next slide. “First of all, Batman is too dark and scary. Nobody trusts him, which is maybe what you’re going for, but if nobody even  _ likes  _ you, then how can you be the city’s hero? If you have a sidekick, then people will be more open and trusting,  _ especially  _ if they’re young.”

 

“Or they’ll think I’m some sort of psycho who lets kids fight crime,” Bruce says, clearly unimpressed. Babs narrows her eyes at him and switches the slide. 

 

“More reasons to have a Robin,” Babs says. “The name ‘Robin’ is the least threatening name in the history of  _ ever,  _ and if Robin wears bright colors then I can distract the criminals and you can take them out. Plus there’s like the light/dark balance thing.” She goes to the next slide. “I also have been taking martial arts since I was six years old, and gymnastics for longer. All I’d need to do is combine the two and develop my own style.” 

 

“Interesting,” Bruce says softly, and Babs thinks she might actually have his attention. 

 

“Lastly, motive. My father was a police officer. He helped people. You’re--” she points the pointer at him-- “my new father, in theory, and you’re Batman. Helping people is in my  _ blood.  _ Besides, my parents died from a stupid mugging, the same way yours did a billion years ago. This city  _ needs  _ to be rid of crime, if there’s muggings  _ every day.  _ Who knows how many other parents are dying in front of their kids? How many kids have to be sent to orphanages and foster homes or just straight up live on the street? Not everyone gets adopted by a billionaire. And you can’t tell me I’m too young--I’m old enough to have seen my parents die, I think I’m old enough to help save this city.”

 

Babs concludes her presentation with a bow. Bruce looks deep in thought. Babs takes that as a good sign. 

 

\----

 

Kate wakes up and stares at her ceiling. 

 

Then she remembers who’s in the guest room. 

 

Renee had offered to take Richard--”Call me Dick,” he’d said--to her apartment, but she didn’t have space, so Kate had taken him. It’s temporary until they can find a more permanent home, but Kate cringes at the idea of him--or any kid, really--sent to the foster system in Gotham. 

 

Being Batwoman has provided some insight on all the crime in the city, and Kate really doesn’t want Dick to have to be sent through that torture. 

 

She rolls out of bed and heads to the guest room, where Dick is still sound asleep. She watches for a minute, amazed that he was even able to close his eyes after what he’d witnessed the night before. 

Maybe it hasn’t really settled yet, she thinks, and she decides to leave him to his sleep. Heaven knows when he’ll sleep again. 

 

\----

 

Dick wakes up in an actual bed, not a trailer bed, and he remembers immediately what happened, and he sits up too fast.

 

Stars swim before his eyes and he curls up on himself, trying to push them away. It takes him a few minutes to determine that he doesn’t want to be left alone, so he gets up and he hopes that the nice lady is awake and also that it wouldn’t be imposing to hang out with her first thing in the morning. 

 

She is, indeed, awake, and Dick can’t quite remember her name, but she’s pretty and the officer lady said that she was trustworthy, so Dick likes her. She also let Dick hug her last night and helped him wipe off the blood from his hands and costume. Yeah, Dick likes her. 

 

“Hello,” he says, trying to be cheerful and failing. 

 

“Hey there,” she says, smiling warmly. “Do you want any breakfast?”

 

“No thanks,” Dick says. He rubs his eyes. “I, um, didn’t want to be alone.”

 

“I know the feeling,” the lady says. “When my mom died I couldn’t sleep for a week and I didn’t want my dad to be out of my sight.”

 

“Your mom is dead?” Dick asks, eyes wide. “Oh, no!”

 

“It’s okay, kiddo, it was a long time ago. Come sit?” He comes over and sits across from her at the table, swinging his feet. 

 

“So I know you probably don’t want to talk about this, but the funeral is in a week from today, they think,” she says. “My cousin offered to pay for it, and we can go get you something to wear later on this week, yeah?”

 

“Okay,” Dick says, nodding. “That sounds fine. Who’s your cousin?”

 

“Bruce Wayne,” the lady says. Dick thinks the name might sound familiar, but he’s not sure. “He’s rich.”

 

“Ooh,” Dick says. “That’s nice.”

 

“Yeah,” the lady says, and Dick thinks that she seems upset about something. He doesn’t really know her, though, so it could be anything. 

 

“Thanks for taking me in,” Dick says. 

 

“No problem,” she says, smiling. “No problem at all.”

 

\----

 

Bruce says yes. 

 

\----

 

Dick holds Kate’s hand tightly and stares at the coffins. There’s flowers on top. Dick wonders what kind of flower they are. 

 

He looks up at Bruce Wayne, who’s mouth is twisted into an uncomfortable expression. The girl with red hair next to him has her arms folded, and she, too, looks uncomfortable. 

 

Dick wonders if he looks uncomfortable, too, or if he’s just sad. 

 

The minister finishes saying whatever it was he was saying, and Dick lets Kate’s hand go and turns away from the coffins. 

 

Kate puts her hand on his shoulder, and he stares at his shiny shoes. He feels like it should be raining. 

 

“Hey,” a voice says, and Dick looks up to see the redhead with Bruce next to him. 

 

“Hi,” he says, his voice hollow.

 

“I hear you’re an acrobat,” she says. Dick’s a little confused, he thought she’d want to talk about his parents or his feelings. 

 

“Yeah,” he says. She smiles. 

 

“That’s cool,” she says. “Was the circus fun?”

 

“It was,” he says. “Um, I’m sorry, but I don’t know who you--”

 

“Oh!” she says. “Oops. I’m Barbara.”

 

“I’m Dick,” he says. She nods. 

 

“Nice to meet you, Dick.”

 

“Nice to meet you, too.”

 

“Wanna take a walk?” she asks and he nods. She leads him away from his parents graves. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Sad,” he says. “Maybe empty.”

 

“Did you know that me and Bruce were supposed to go to the circus, that night?” Babs asks, staring straight ahead. “I might’ve--we might’ve taken you in, instead of Kate.” 

 

“Why?” Dick asks. Kate had only taken him because she was the commissioner's girlfriend, right?

 

“Well,” she says. “Me and you and Bruce--we’re the same.”

 

“How come?” Dick demands, putting his hands on his hips. She stops and turns to face him. 

 

“We all watched our parents  _ die,”  _ she says. 

 

“You--what?”

 

“Me and Bruce’s parents got mugged and shot in front of us,” Babs says. “You...well.” 

 

“Oh,” Dick says, feeling very, very small. 

 

“It’s fine,” Babs says. “Do you...wanna go back?” Dick turns and casts a look at the coffins. He shudders and turns back to Babs. 

 

“No thanks,” he says. “Can we keep walking?”

 

“Sure,” she says, smiling a little. She takes his hand, and together they walk away. 

 

\----

 

“This is the best day of my entire life,” Robin says, inspecting herself in the mirror. 

 

“I’m glad,” Batman says, fiddling with his belt. 

 

“Are we gonna go? Let’s go!” Robin says, whirling around and giggling at the feeling of her cape swooshing behind her. Makes her feel powerful. 

 

“Fine,” Batman says, and he opens the Batmobile. “But remember, you have to follow my orders and do  _ exactly  _ as I say.”

 

“Sure thing, boss!” Robin chirps, and just because she can she does a back handspring on her way to the car. She hops in and feels herself practically glowing with excitement. 

 

“Robin,” Batman says, and it sounds like he’s testing the word out. “Robin. Calm down.”

 

“Okay, okay, I’m good. I’m calm,” she says, but she’s still grinning. 

 

“Good luck,” Alfred says dryly as Batman closes the hood of the car and they start to speed away, Robin whooping in excitement.  

 

\----

 

“Who the hell is  _ that?”  _ Batwoman asks, watching from above. 

 

“Who’s who?” her father asks from the comm in her ear. 

 

“There’s some kid running around with Batman,” Batwoman says. She squints closer. The girl has red hair in a ponytail, and she’s dodging under and around the drug buyers while Batman rounds up the dealers, and somehow they’re  _ almost  _ in perfect sync, and Batwoman’s really, really confused. 

 

“What does the kid look like?” her father asks. 

 

“She has red hair, but like...orange-y red, not like my red, and she’s in….a red costume with….green accents….and a yellow cape? She looks like a traffic light, to be honest.”

 

“How old would you say she is?”

 

“I dunno...fifteen? I can’t really tell, she’s young though.”

 

“Interesting,” her father says. 

 

“I just can’t believe he won’t work with  _ me  _ but he’ll work with a  _ kid,”  _ Kate says. “This is probably homophobic, come on Batman.” She pauses. “Wait, what if he’s actually homophobic and that’s why?”

 

“He rejected you before he knew who you were,” her father says. “And keep at it, maybe in a while he’ll trust you.”

 

“I guess,” Batwoman says. “It doesn’t really matter in the first place, though. I don’t need him.”

 

“Of course not,” her father says. She gets up and flips to a new roof. 

 

“How’s the kiddo?” she asks. 

 

“Sleeping,” her father says. “Hey, how long do you plan to keep him with you?” Batwoman pauses. 

 

“Um,” she says. “I’m not sure. However long it takes, I guess.”

  
“Of course,” her father says. “Of course.” 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, all! I just wanted to announce that this is going to be slightly shorter than originally planned, and should end in a few chapters. I was going to go through all of Bruce's Robin's in this au---but to be honest I don't have the patience for that, and it would probably get abandoned before I would finish. 
> 
> Have no fear, though, for I don't plan on abandoning!
> 
> Thank you again for reading, both the fic and my pointless announcement, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this story!

Babs knocks on the door, and it’s opened by Kate Kane. 

 

“Oh,” Kate says, raising an eyebrow. “I’ll go get Dick, then.”

 

“Okay,” Babs says, smiling, and Kate vanishes to come back a minute later with Dick in tow. 

 

“Bye,” Dick waves, and Kate nods. Babs leads him to the elevator. 

 

“How are you?” she asks. 

 

“I’m fine,” he says. “Feeling better.”

 

“That’s good,” Babs says. “I told you you would.”

 

“And you were right,” Dick says, smiling crookedly. Babs can’t remember if that’s the first time she’s seen him smile. The elevator arrives and they go in. 

 

“How’s Kate?”

 

“Fine, I guess,” Dick says. 

 

“I don’t think she likes Bruce very much.”

 

“She thinks he’s an idiot,” Dick admits sheepishly. 

 

“He is, sometimes,” Babs says. “But I like him.” Dick can’t really argue with that. They leave the elevator and there’s a  _ wildly  _ fancy car waiting for them, with a man in the driver’s seat that Dick recognizes from the funeral. 

 

“Ready?” Babs asks, and Dick nods. He wants to see Bruce Wayne’s fancy house  _ really badly.  _ She smiles. “Then let’s go.”

 

\------

 

Kate’s enjoying a nice afternoon to herself, her dad out doing something-or-another and Dick at Bruce’s with Babs--which is fine, really. 

 

She closes her eyes for a second, and a knock startles her awake. She looks around wildly, and oh--it’s been four hours. Oops. 

 

She gets up to open the door, and Bruce sweeps in, a man trailing behind him sheepishly and Dick and Babs in tow. 

 

“Ahh, Katie,” Bruce says, beaming. “How lovely to see you!”

 

“You...didn’t have to bring him back yourself,” Kate says, crossing her arms. 

 

“I know, I know,” Bruce says, waving a hand. “You’re welcome. Dickie here was lovely, as usual--”

 

“You’ve met me, like, one other time,” Dick says.

 

“--and Mister Kant here wanted to talk to you!” The guy--a reporter, Kate realizes--pushes up his glasses awkwardly. 

 

“N-not really,” he says. “I mean, I’d like to talk to you maybe about Dick, but I don’t need to.” Kate can only imagine that Kant and Bruce were in an interview when Bruce’d decided to return Dick to her.

 

“Sure, I guess,” she says. “Dick, why don’t you show Barbara your room?” Dick nods and runs off, Barbara right on his heels. She turns back to the reporter whose name Bruce probably got wrong. “We can sit.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Kane,” the reporter says, and Bruce sprawls on the couch while Kate and the reporter sit at the table. 

 

“Call me Kate,” she says. She hasn’t done an interview with a reporter for a long, long time. 

 

“I’m Clark,” the reporter says. “Uh. Kent, not Kant.”

 

“I kinda thought he had it wrong,” Kate says. She knows Bruce can hear her. “Which paper are you for?”

 

“ _ Daily Planet,”  _ Clark says. Wow. 

 

“I haven’t had a  _ Planet  _ interview since my aunt and uncle died,” Kate says. She looks over at Bruce, who looks half asleep. Typical. 

 

“Then it’s been quite a while,” Clark says. “But this should be brief.”

 

“Fine.”

 

“For starters, why did you take in Dick?”

 

“Well,” Kate says, leaning back in her chair. “Renee Montoya is my girlfriend, and we were at the circus together, and I offered to let him crash at my place until we found a foster home.”

 

“Okay,” Clark says, writing this down. “And how much longer do you plan on keeping him here?”

 

Kate sits forward, stills. She thinks. 

 

“I’m...not sure,” she says. “I kinda like the little goober, so I wouldn’t mind him sticking around.” Clark beams at her as he writes, and Kate feels kinda awkward and kinda proud. 

 

\----

 

Clark leaves Bruce Wayne asleep on Kate Kane’s couch, and he tells Kate that the article will probably be published online, or her quotes will be incorporated into the Wayne article. She says that’s fine and Clark leaves in a rush, walking to the nearest alleyway. 

 

He thinks about Bruce Wayne, and he thinks about how Bruce Wayne’d flirted with him the entire interview yet didn’t even bother to remember his name. Typical. He scoffs and turns away and wishes that Wayne wasn’t stupidly endearing. 

 

Clark steps into the dark alley and can’t help a wary glance upward, thinking of Batman. Of course, there’s no way Batman would know, but---Clark doesn’t usually like to break his promises. Not that he’d promised Batman anything, he reminds himself, and he’s almost afraid to change into his costume, but. 

 

He also kind of wants to meet Batman again. 

 

\----

 

Kate kicks Bruce awake and crosses her arms. 

 

“The reporter’s gone now, you can leave,” she says. 

 

“Ooh, right,” Bruce says. “Silly me. I must apologize for falling asleep on your couch, I stayed up late last night with a pair of models--”

 

“Save it,” Kate says, cutting him off. “I don’t care or want to know.” Bruce’s face twists. He almost looks….guilty?

 

He stands and brushes off his suit, which is frustratingly impeccable. 

 

“I’m sorry,” he says, and Kate sighs, closes her eyes. 

 

“Whatever,” she says. “Just take Barbara and go.” Nothing about Bruce changes but his eyes, which look entirely different in ways Kate can’t explain. 

 

“I really am sorry,” he says, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not...personal.” Kate looks down and smiles at her shoes. 

 

“I guess,” she says, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. “If it’s not  _ personal.”  _

 

“Thank you,” Bruce says, and Kate’s not even sure what she did, but this Bruce looks like the one she knows. 

 

“No problem,” she says, and she’s still puzzled, but she smiles a genuine smile anyway. 

 

“Come on, Babs,” Bruce calls and Barbara and Dick slide out of Dick’s room. 

 

“See ya around, Dickie,” Babs says, and she runs over to Bruce and he takes her hand. They head for the door and Bruce turns back. 

 

“I’ll be seeing you,” he says to Kate, and she nods. He smirks. “Katie.”

 

She throws a pillow at the door as it closes. 

 

\----

 

“I like them,” Babs says, swinging her and Bruce’s locked hands. 

 

“Oh really?” Bruce asks with a raised eyebrow, smiling down at her. 

 

“Yeah,” Babs says. She thinks about Batwoman, who’s “she’s” never “met”, and Kate, and Dick Grayson, who she can already tell is gonna be a great friend. “I do.”

 

\----

 

Dick wakes up thirsty. He rolls over, and it’s after midnight by a lot, but Dick figures he can be quiet enough to go get himself a drink of water. He crawls out of bed and tiptoes to the kitchen. He pauses when he hears a noise, but it’s just Mr. Kane, snoring on the couch with his computer on his lap. The laptop is still open, so Dick goes over and gently shuts it to preserve the battery. 

 

He goes back to the kitchen and gets a glass of water, then brings it with him back to his room. 

 

He’s almost inside when there is a slight creaking noise, and Dick flattens himself against the wall. He hears footsteps, and he creeps over to the family room again. Someone is closing the window. Someone with a cape and long hair that looks red in the dark lights of the family room. 

 

Dick opens his mouth, building up a scream, but before he can the person turns and takes off the mask, taking their (her?) hair with it. Dick cranes to see their face, but it isn’t until they turn to Mr. Kane, asleep on the couch, that he sees who it is. 

 

It’s Kate. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus christ, I'm sorry for the long wait. if it makes you feel any better, i think there's only two chapters left! and i'm on a roll (hopefully) so i'll be able to post tonight/tomorrow. thank y'all for sticking around, and thanks to all the new readers, too!

“What do you know about Batman?” Dick asks into the phone, staring up at his bedroom ceiling.

 

“Why do you ask?” Babs asks, curiosity coloring her voice. 

 

“Well,” he says, then he pauses. He wants to tell Barbara about what he’d seen last night, but he’s not sure if he should. “Just asking. Because your dad would’ve known him, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Babs says after a minute. “Um, my dad said he was real, and I think he is? I heard that Renee was trying to talk to him, too. I’m...I’m not sure if it’s working? Maybe he’s not real. I dunno, Dick.”

 

“That’s fine,” Dick says. “Is he alone? Does he have friends?” Babs’s breath hitches and Dick’s nervous that he asked the wrong thing somehow. 

 

“I heard there was a Batwoman,” she says after a long minute. “It was in the paper.”

 

“Bat….woman?” he asks. “Like Batman’s girlfriend?” 

 

“I don’t think so,” Babs says quickly. “But I have no idea.”

 

“That’s okay,” Dick says. Someone calls Babs away and she hangs up. Dick puts the phone down. He’s never….never really thought about Batman before. He wonders if Batman knows who killed his parents. He wonders if Kate knows who Batman is. He wonders if  _ Renee  _ knows who Batman is. 

 

\----

 

Renee smiles despite herself when Batwoman shows up at the signal. 

 

“Hey, you,” she says. 

 

“No time for flirting,” Batwoman says, and Renee laughs. 

 

“I know, I know. There was a bank robbery on 43rd, so--”

 

Batwoman flips off the signal and grapples away before Renee can finish her sentence. She smiles, thinking of Batman way back when Gordon was alive--he never stayed through a sentence, either. At least according to Gordon, that is. 

 

Batwoman’s “no flirting” comment reminds her--she should call Kate. She hasn’t seen her in a while. Of course, it’s too late to do it now, but she’ll drop by in the morning. She smiles up at the moon and--

 

“Gordon was always broodier,” a voice says. Renee whirls around. A kid-- _ kid! _ \--in a red, green, and yellow costume grins at her. The girl is perched on top of the batsignal. 

 

“W-who are you?” Renee asks, hating the stammer in her voice. 

 

“Robin, at your service,” the girl says, tipping an imaginary hat. 

 

“Are you--vigilantes can’t be  _ kids,”  _ Renee protests. 

 

“Says who?” Robin grins cheekily. Renee doesn’t really have an answer for that.  _ It’s dangerous?  _ Dangerous for an adult, too. “Anywho, just thought I’d pop by, say hi.”

 

“Why?” Renee asks, crossing her arms. 

 

“Well, this way you know who I am, so you can call CPS or whatever,” Robin says. “Or so when criminals show up crying that they were beaten by a  _ little girl,  _ then you can know who’s to blame. Me, by the way.”

 

“Sure,” Renee says, trying to keep her cool. This kid--no more than fourteen--has the higher ground in this conversation. Renee’s supposed to be in charge here, but at least with Batwoman the other woman is, well, a  _ woman.  _ Not a child. Or, well, teenager. “And that’s all you’re here for?”

 

“You betcha, sister,” Robin says, and Renee suspects she winks from under her mask. Robin tilts her head and pauses. It looks like she’s listening to something. Robin straightens and grins. “Well, that and distract you from what my dear partner is doing down below.”

 

“Wait, what--” Renee starts, but before she can finish Robin throws a smoke bomb and vanishes, leaving Renee to wonder what the heck just happened. 

 

\----

 

Dick can’t help himself, apparently. He knows he’s still young, and yet after Kate leaves he still goes out the window to follow her. 

 

He’s not really sure what he’s doing, but he’s an acrobat and he stole one of Kate’s grapple thingies, so he’s not afraid. 

 

He follows her from  _ really  _ far away, but still close enough that he can see her. He stays on the rooftops when she fights crimes, and peeks down to watch. 

 

It’s only when his eyes are sagging and he thinks he should maybe go home except he’s not entirely sure where that is when he sees  _ her.  _

 

A girl, probably older than him but not by a lot, tumbles by on the rooftops. Dick stops to stare. She unrolls from her summersault and darts across the rooftop, flipping away. 

 

Her form is good, but he knows his is better, but--she’s in a  _ costume.  _ And she’s  _ his age.  _

 

The next time Dick recognizes where they are he goes back home--when did Kate’s apartment become his home?--and heads in to bed, his mind reeling. 

 

\-----

 

There’s an explosion in Metropolis, which doesn’t usually affect Bruce, except he’s  _ in  _ Metropolis, so he figures “what the heck” and suits up. 

 

Yes, Alfred, it  _ was  _ important to bring the Batsuit. 

 

He heads out, and there’s giant green robots, and giant green robots aren’t really Batman’s area of expertise, so he figures it’s good practice. 

 

He’s calculating how much force it would take to punch the robot when Superman shows up.

 

“I was under the impression that you didn’t leave Gotham,” he says, eyebrow raised. 

 

“I was in the area,” Batman growls out. “Now do you want to punch these robots or not?”

 

“Gladly,” Superman says, with a lopsided grin that’s too cute for his own good. Batman rolls his eyes under the cowl, and together they go to work. 

 

\----

 

“Shit,” Clark whispers later, after Batman’d disappeared. He’s not so scary in the daylight. In fact, his outfit looks like armor, which leads Clark to wonder if he’s actually  _ human  _ under there. 

 

Except he remembers that Batman can teleport, so maybe not. 

 

“Shit,” he whispers again when he thinks of Batman, kneeling down by a sobbing little girl and comforting her, leading her by the hand to her mother. 

 

“What is it, Smallville?” Lois asks, poking his side. Clark turns, surprised. Her hair is messy and her clothes are torn so he figures she’s been right in the thick of the action. “You mad you missed on the Luthor-bots and  _ Batman?”  _

 

“No,” Clark says absently. He’s glad he saw Batman, although he’s a little upset he hadn’t asked Batman to coffee or something. “I just--realized something.”

 

“Ooh, girl troubles,” Lois teases, and Clark feels his face heat up. 

 

\----

 

Dick has every confidence in his sewing ability, except it turns out that that confidence is unfounded and he can’t actually sew. 

 

But he manages to make a mask thing, and he puts on a dark hoodie at the bottom of his drawer and a pair of dark pants, and he puts them all on together and sneaks out after Kate again. 

 

This time, however, he flips out in front of her when they’re not too far from their apartment. 

 

“What the fu--” Kate--Batwoman-- starts to say. 

 

“Hello,” Dick says, trying to disguise his voice. “I’m Batboy and I want to help.” 

 

“What,” Batwoman repeats. Dick puffs up and puts his fists on his hips. 

 

“Batman has a sidekick person,” he says importantly. “So I am here to make a campaign to be yours.” 

 

“Hold up,” Batwoman says, waving her hands around. “What the absolute  _ fu-- _ heck. What the heck. Who are you, you’re just a kid.”

 

“But I can help!” Dick pleads. “Please?” He doesn’t realize that he’s stopped disguising his voice until she sags. 

 

“Dick?” she whispers. “Did you….”

 

“I’m sorry,” Dick says, because this suddenly seems like a terrible idea. “I’ll go home--”

 

“No,” Kate says. “I’ll--here. Let’s talk.” She puts her arm around his shoulder and leads him to a ledge where the sit, with their legs dangling down below. “Okay,” Kate says. “Tell me why you want to be my sidekick.”

 

\----

 

“Is she gonna do it?” Robin whispers, peering through her binoculars. 

 

“She might,” Batman says. “I’m not sure.”

 

“We should tell her who we are,” Robin says. “We could help them!”

 

“Maybe,” Batman grounds out, and Robin’s quite honestly surprised. She didn’t think he’d say anything nicer than “no”. 

 

\-----

 

“Kate, are you sure?” Jacob asks. Kate nods, running her fingers through her hair.

 

“Yeah,” she says. “I trust him.”

 

“This is ridiculous,” her father grumbles over the phone. Kate doesn’t really care. She shifts, careful not to wake Renee, who’s asleep on her lap. 

 

“I know it is,” she says. “But I don’t care.”

 

“Fine,” Jacob says. “If this blows up in your face, then it’s on you.”

 

“I know,” Kate says. She thinks of how tiny Dick is, and her resolve hardens. “And it won’t.”

 

\-----

 

Kate takes a deep breath. She raises her fist to the door. A small hands slips into hers, and she looks down at Dick. He grins. She feels better. She knocks.

 

“Ah, Miss Kane,” Alfred says, opening the door after about half a second. “Come on in. To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?”

 

“Can we talk to Bruce?” Kate asks. 

 

“Yes. I will retrieve him now,” Alfred says, and he leaves. Kate looks around. She hasn’t been in the manor in  _ years.  _

 

“It’ll be okay!” Dick says cheerfully. 

 

“I hope so,” Kate mutters, and then Bruce comes around the corner. 

 

“Katie!” He beams. “What are you doing here?” She takes a deep breath. 

 

“Bruce,” she says. “How do you go about adopting a child?” 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

“I suppose we can work something out,” Batman says, staring at Superman. 

 

“That’s--this is great,” Superman says eagerly. 

 

“I’m still not working with your  _ league,”  _ Batman says.

 

“And that’s fine,” Superman says. “Just having you and me work together, that’s--fine.” And he grins, and it’s really bright, and Batman doesn’t think actual humans can smile that brightly. 

 

“Sure,” he says. “Whatever. Get out of my city.”

 

“Alright,” Superman says, backing up. “Goodbye, Batman. Bye Robin.”

 

“Bye!” Robin chirps cheerfully, waving. Superman grins in return and flies away. 

 

“Let’s get back to patrol,” Batman says. 

 

“Ooh,” Robin says. “You  _ like  _ him.”

 

“I do not,” Batman says, releasing his grapple. Robin follows suit. 

 

“Yeah you dooooo,” she says, sailing after him. Batman smiles to himself and ignores her. 

 

\-----

 

The minute Batwoman and Batboy are out on patrol, they’re ambushed. 

 

“Batwoman,” Batman growls from the shadows someplace. “You’ve acquired an assistant.” 

 

“I have,” Batwoman answers, staring at where she’s pretty sure Batman is. Then again, she’s not sure. 

 

“Is that Batman?” Batboy whispers. Batwoman nods. “Cool.”

 

“Wow,” a girl’s voice says excitedly. “I think I started a trend!”

 

“Reveal yourself,” Batwoman says, and there’s movement in her peripherals, and Batman is actually  _ behind  _ her. The girl emerges behind him, bouncing slightly on her toes. 

 

“Hi, there, I’m Batboy,” Batboy says, launching his hand at the girl. She shakes it eagerly. 

 

“I’m Robin!” she says. Batboy freezes, then regains himself. 

 

“Nice to meet you,” he says slowly. Robin looks confused but rolls with it. 

 

“He’s young,” Batman says, and Batwoman is reminded that he knows her identity, and therefore probably knows that Dick is Batboy. 

 

“So’s yours,” she says, crossing her arms. 

 

“Yes,” Batman says simply. He turns in a swirl of his cape. “Come on, Robin.”

 

“Okay,” Robin says. “See ya around, Batbaby.” Batboy protests and she sticks her tongue out, grappling away and laughing. 

 

\-----

 

“Why’d you freeze when I first told you I was called Robin?” Robin asks, watching Batboy. He does a flip across the rooftops. 

 

“Do you...Batman knows who Batwoman is,” he says. 

 

“Yeah,” she says. “He told me.”

 

“Then do you know who I am?” he asks. 

 

“Sure,” she says. “Richard “Dick” Grayson, ten years old, former acrobat for Haley’s circus. Recently adopted by Katherine “Kate” Kane.”

 

“Yeah,” he says. “Um. My mom used to call me Robin, because I was ‘bobbin along.”

 

“Ooooh,” Robin says, suddenly feeling guilty although she had no idea. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s fine,” he says. “I don’t mind. Hey, why did  _ you  _ decide to be called Robin?”

 

“Because it sounds stupid,” she says honestly. “Like, people will hear that there’s a Robin, and then they’ll laugh because Robin is  _ so intimidating,  _ then I’ll punch them in the face.”

 

“Oh,” he says. “Okay.” 

 

“I dunno, dude, but now it’s stuck. I like it. I’m. Um. Sorry about your mom.”

 

“It’s fine,” Batboy says, doing a cartwheel. “It happens.”

 

“Yeah,” Robin says, looking down at her lap. “It does.” She bites her lip and fiddles with her glove. “Hey...did you know me and Batman tracked down the guy who did it?”

 

“Did...what?” Batboy asks, stopping in what he’s doing.

 

“The….ropes. At the circus. The guy who cut them’s in jail now.”

 

“Oh,” Batboy says. “Oh. I thought--I thought Renee was going to do that. That’s why I told her what I saw.”

 

“It was kinda...personal for Batman and me,” Robin explains lamely. “So we….stole the records.”

 

“Oh,” Batboy says again. “Well. As long as he’s caught, I guess.”

 

“Yeah,” Robin says. She stands up. “Come on, let’s go patrol.”

 

“Sure,” Batboy says, grinning too widely. They grapple away, together.

 

\----

 

Bruce is at a gala, and he’s trying to ignore everyone and find someone who’ll be an interesting conversation, because he’s  _ bored,  _ except he can’t really think of anyone and Babs is talking to Kent, her reporter friend, again, and Alfred’s at the manor. So. He walks over to where Babs and Kent are and sips his wine, deciding that Kent can’t be too bad. 

 

Then, of course, an explosion shakes the building and something falls on top of Bruce, pushing him, and it takes him a second to realize that it’s Kent, and he’s pushed him and Babs to the floor. 

 

“Mr Wayne!” Kent says, the glasses making his eyes look huge and ernest. “Are you okay?” 

 

Bruce scoffs slightly and looks over at Babs, who blinks at him. She seems fine.

 

“Sure,” he says. “Thanks to my  _ dashing  _ savior.” Kent blushes then grins. 

 

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he says. “It was no big deal.” And he keeps smiling, and it’s inhumanely  _ bright  _ and very familiar, and Bruce is  _ pretty  _ sure some reporter from Metropolis shouldn’t have the same smile as  _ Superman,  _ unless--

 

He hears Cobblepot crowing something about how he’s finally won, and remembers where he is. Bruce leans around Kent’s broad shoulders to see Penguin with several actual penguins and standing on top of a robotic umbrella and spewing some monologue. 

 

Kent rolls off of him and Babs, stammering and apologizing, and Bruce is trying to justify his image of Superman versus his image of this reporter, when Cobblepot falls off his umbrella and Batwoman crashes in behind him. 

 

“Shut the hell your mouth,” she says, and Batboy comes in behind her in a flip. 

 

“It’s time for Penguin to Peng- _ lose,”  _ he says, and Bruce grabs Babs to pull her away. 

 

\----

 

Being in the reporter persona is hard, Clark reflects, especially when Gotham’s his “no-no” zone and also when crazy rich people channeling their inner penguin decide to show up. 

 

But when Batman and Robin crash in only a few seconds after Batwoman and the kid with her, and Clark’s provided with a time to just straight-up oogle Batman, he finds he can’t really complain.

 

\----

 

Four people take down Penguin  _ way  _ too easily, and the fight’s over before Batwoman knows it. When the fight’s over and she calls Renee to pick Cobblepot up, she sends Batboy to do a headcount of all the people to make sure they’re all safe. 

 

“Two people are missing,” he says, coming up to the roof where she’s waiting with Batman and Robin.

 

“Who?” Batwoman asks.

 

“Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon,” Batman says shortly, sounding like he’s chiding someone. Batwoman turns slowly. 

 

“ _ What?”  _ she asks, thinking of her stupid cousin and Dick’s new best friend. “Did you say Bruce Wayne?”

 

“A-and Babs?” Batboy asks, and he sounds afraid. Batman’s expression is hard to read, and Robin looks guilty for some reason. Batwoman seizes in on that. 

 

“Did you do something to them? How did you know it was  _ them?”  _

 

“Is Babs okay?” Batboy asks, sounding stricken. 

 

“Shh,” Robin says, casting a helpless look at Batman. “She’s--she’s fine.”

 

“How do you know?” Batboy asks. 

 

“Say something!” Batwoman tells Batman, poking the bat on his chest. 

 

“Fine,” he growls, taking a step backwards, and before he does anything Kate understands. 

 

Then he takes off his cowl and Bruce glares at her. It’s almost like when they were kids again. Kate pulls off her own mask and laughs. 

 

“I knew you weren’t an idiot,” she says, grinning. 

 

“Wait…” Dick says, and Robin peels off her own mask. “Babs! You’re okay!”

 

“I am!” Babs says, and Dick crushes her in a hug. 

 

“How did you know I was Batwoman?” Kate asks Bruce, putting her hands on her hips. 

 

“I know you, Kate,” Bruce says. He’s not smiling and he’s not frowning and it’s  _ exactly  _ like what Kate would think Bruce--the real Bruce--would be. “If you had thought about who Batman was, you’d have thought of me, too.”

 

“Yeah,” Kate says, looking at him and how natural the Batsuit fits on her cousin’s face. “I think I would’ve. Brucie.” The corners of his mouth twitch up. 

 

“Come on, Robin, let’s go,” he says, pulling back on his cowl. “I guess we’ll see you around, then. Katie.” 

 

And with that, he’s gone, but Kate knows he’ll be back. 

 

\-----

 

“This is really cool,” Dick breathes. 

 

“Yeah it is,” Babs says. They’re on her bed, burrowed under a ton of blankets and watching a video on eskrima fighting. 

 

“Do you think I’ll be able to do that?” Dick asks, awe coloring his voice. Babs scrunches up her nose thoughtfully. 

 

“Yeah,” she says. “I think so.”

 

“You do?”

 

“Yeah,” she says again, pausing the video. “Let’s do it.”

 

“What?” Dick asks, eyes wide. 

 

“Let’s learn,” she says. “Together.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Are you  _ afraid,  _ Kaneson?” she asks teasingly. He puffs his chest up and crosses his arms. 

 

“No  _ way,  _ Wayne,” he says. “Let’s do it.”

 

“Let’s,” Babs says, and she pulls him off her bed, and down towards the Batcave. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End ♡


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok ok ok, so i lied about that last chapter being the last one. have an epilogue :)

 

_ Ten years later…. _

 

\------

 

“Bruce?” a small voice asks and he looks down. Nell blinks up at him. “Will you dance with me?” Bruce smiles. 

 

“Did your sisters put you up to this?” he asks. 

 

“No!” Nell says. “I wanted to dance. With you.” Bruce bows. 

 

“Then it’s my pleasure,” he says, taking her hands and leading her to the dance floor. She stands on his toes and he doesn’t mind, dancing her around the room. Once upon a time, he might not’ve danced with her at all, for his playboy persona, but nowadays he doesn’t really care. If his youngest wants to dance, then dance she will. 

 

“Wow, Nell, really feeling the love,” Steph calls from next to him. Bruce turns to see her dancing with Kon, who’s probably here with Tim. “I thought  _ I  _ was your dance partner.”

 

“Not anymore,” Nell says, sticking her tongue out. “You stole my cupcake.”

 

“It was a  _ cupcake,”  _ Steph says, sounding exasperated. “You eat  _ one  _ cupcake and suddenly you lose your favorite sister’s trust forever.”

 

“Excuse me,” Cass says huffily, dancing by with Harper. 

 

“You’re my favorite  _ best friend,”  _ Steph says. “Big difference.” 

 

Bruce smiles and rolls his eyes fondly. He loves these girls. He notices Damian dancing with Claire and spins Nell away, and--

 

“May I cut in?” Clark asks, and both Nell and Bruce blink at him. 

 

“Sure,” Nell says, and Bruce expects Clark to grab  _ his  _ hands and keep dancing, but instead he grabs  _ Nell’s.  _ He must have a stupid look on his face, because Clark laughs at him. 

 

“Sorry, babe,” he says. “But this cutie wins out every time.”

 

“Whatever,” Bruce mutters. 

 

“S all good, Clark,” a new voice says, and Bruce turns to see Babs, her hands on her hips. “I’ll dance with this grump.”

 

“Your sacrifice is noted and appreciated,” Clark intones before wisking Nell away. Bruce takes Babs’s hands and starts to dance.

 

“Have you heard from Lena?” he asks her. She shakes her head. 

 

“She’s around, though,” Babs promises. “She said she was in town.”

 

“Maybe we’ll see her tonight,” Bruce says, and as if on cue, the comm in his ear activates and Tim’s voice fills his ear.

 

“The Batsignal’s on early tonight,” he says blandly, and Bruce looks through the crowd to see that Tim’s brought his laptop and is sitting in a corner using it. He looks over at Babs. She grins. 

 

“Time to make our escape,” she says, and they leave the dance floor together, Bruce grabbing Nell as he passes. 

 

“Go save the world,” Clark says, and he bestows a quick kiss to Bruce, who grins and turns away. 

 

He sees Steph and Cass already disappearing into a side room, and Claire wheels Tim away, Damian by her side. He waits until he’s sure nobody’s watching, and he, Babs, and Nell duck away, heading down to the cave. 

  
  


\----

  
  


Kate’s on the couch, her feet up on an ottoman. Jason’s next to her and Duke next to him, while Dick makes popcorn in the kitchen. They’re watching some movie that Duke’d picked, so clearly it was very obscure and she wasn’t even sure what it was. Dick comes into the room and drops a bowl of popcorn on Jason’s lap and takes another for himself, laying on the other couch. 

 

Her other boys are at the gala, but she doesn’t mind. Tim’s climbing up the chain at WE, and she thinks of Damian as her son but he’s still technically Bruce’s, so he’s there too. Honestly, she’s proud of them. 

 

Someone taps on her window and Kate turns her head; Helena grins at them, already in full costume. 

 

“Hey losers,” she says. “Put on your comms. The Batsignal’s been on for like, five minutes and Cave won’t stop  _ yelling.”  _

 

She grapples away and Kate reaches up and turns her comm on, slightly embarrassed.

 

“Don’t get your panties in a knot, Timmers, I told them,” Helena’s voice says. 

 

“We’re here,” Kate says, standing up. 

 

“Good,” Cave--Tim--says. “Get suited up and  _ go.”  _

 

“Good idea,” Jason says. 

 

“I agree,” Dick says. “Let’s do this.”

 

\-----

 

Renee stands by the Batsignal, waiting. She crosses her arms and grins up at the stars. 

 

“Wow, way to brood,” Nightingale says, and Renee turns. Nightingale’s on top of the signal, grinning down at her. 

 

“I’m sorry I don’t reach your standards,” she says. “Where’s the others?”

 

“Batman and Robin got caught up with a  _ thing,  _ we haven’t seen Sparrow in a while, Lark’s right here--” Lark climbs up next to Nightingale and waves-- “Crow and Bleubird got a call from Black Canary, and Starling’s--”

 

“Right here!” the purple-clad vigilante says, flipping out of the shadows next to Nightingale, Batboy right behind her. 

 

“What’s the scoop, boss?” Starling asks, sticking the landing and crossing her arms. 

 

“Riddler at the bank next to Wayne Towers,” Renee says.

 

“I’ll get it,” a new voice offers.

 

“Shut up, Lune!” Starling says. “Come on Batboy!”

 

“Tt. I will wait here for Batwoman,” Batboy says, his arms crossed. 

 

“Just abandon your favorite sister, why don’t you,” Starling says dramatically. 

 

“You’re all about favorites tonight, aren’t you, Star?” Nightingale asks. 

 

“Ug,” Batboy says and Renee turns to look at him. He must’ve got some information from over the comms. 

 

“What is it?” she asks. 

 

“Cluemaster escaped  _ again,”  _ Starling says. “Ug. Hate that guy. I mean, of all the people to not  _ stay dead,  _ it has to be him?”

 

“We get it, you died,” Batboy says. “Come on, Starling, why are we still waiting around?”

 

“Good point,” Starling says, and she and Batboy are gone with the blink of an eye. 

 

“Let’s get the bank, then,” Nightingale says. 

 

“Aww yeah,” Lune says, and he flips away. Renee’s not sure if he has a grapple or not. She suspects the latter. Nightingale flips after him. She  _ does  _ have a grapple, Renee notes. She watches them flip across the rooftops, feeling vaguely proud. 

 

“They’ve come a long way from being Batboy and Robin, that’s for sure,” a familiar voice says and Renee turns to see Batwoman, standing right next to her.

 

“They sure have,” Renee says. “I’m proud of them.”

 

“I am too,” Batwoman says, and she grabs the back of Renee’s coat and pulls her towards her. “Got any crime for me to fight?”

 

“Sure do,” Renee says, smiling. “Ivy and Quinn are at the zoo.”

 

“I’ll be there, then,” Batwoman says, and Renee pulls her into a kiss before she can go.

 

“We do  _ not  _ need the PDA,” Black Bat complains loudly, and Renee laughs. 

 

“Hey,” she says, pushing Batwoman--Kate--away. “Go save the world.”

 

“You know what?” Batwoman says, smirking at her. “ _ We will.”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is....actually the last chapter. thanks for reading, and i love y'all greatly for sticking around with me for this! this was my first longfic that i've actually completed, and thank you guys who've been here from the start for sticking with me.
> 
>    
> also in case it wasn't clear:
> 
> Nightingale--Babs  
> Sparrow--Helena  
> Crow--Cass  
> Bluebird--Harper (still)  
> Lark--Claire (clover)  
> Starling--Steph  
> Robin--Nell
> 
> Lune--Dick  
> Black Bat--Jason  
> it didn't say Duke's but he's Chiroptera  
> Cave--Tim (he's like Oracle, and also in a wheelchair :( )  
> Batboy--Damian

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! hope you enjoyed <3! please leave comments/kudos


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